Brugmansia

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greg101

Brugmansia

Post by greg101 »

Just a quick question my Brug is loosing its leaves but still has flowers on and plenty of buds do you think it needs bringing in for the winter now? Why could it be loosing its leaves? It has been flowering constantly from March. I am going to overwinter it in the house but i am also going to propogate it in water.
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Dave Brown
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by Dave Brown »

This is only my second year with them so I am hardly an expert, but they drop leaves during the year eventually ending up with a bare stem lower down.

I would not overwinter in the house if you have young children as they are poisonous, can by fatal if ingested, and can cause halucinations at lower levels. Some people put them in a frost free shed to overwinter. I believe they drop all their leaves and go dormant. Perhaps other can add more info. :wink:
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simon
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by simon »

Mine are the same, Greg. I think they tend to drop leaves when they get larger, if potted because the root system is restricted and they probably can't get enough water so they are balancing between transpiration loss and available water by shedding leaves.

They will defoliate over winter. I stored mine in the garage last year and lost them. I haven't decided what to do with them this year yet.
bobbyd44

Re: Brugmansia

Post by bobbyd44 »

i have taken cuttings off both of mine and have taken well so hopefully i will have plenty of plants next year if my large ones dont make it, i am going to put them in the garage with maybe some fleece over!! hope that will work..as hoping to get more flowers as its full of buds at the moment fingers crossed we will have a nice october and it will flower for me some more...
Andy Martin

Re: Brugmansia

Post by Andy Martin »

Caution is needed if overwintering Brugsmansia indoors (where heat is available) as Spidermite will reek havoc with the plant and you will never get rid of them. Another pest is Greenfly which is hiding in the plant somewhere.
I put mine away in a glass fronted shed which is always frost free but cool 5-10C. I let the plant dry out to allow leaves to fall off, but water very occasionally to stop stem die-back. Every 2 years I replace the original plant with cuttings as Brugmansia are gross feeders and will soon exhaust the soil they grow in. icon_thumright
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by MonkeyDavid »

I put mine in the ground in april as it was a pain to water in previous years & i thought i could dig it up in the autumn....hmmm...it's now about 8' high & 6' wide, if i can manage to dig it up can i trim the roots back so it will fit in my largest pot or will that kill it?
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by Dave Brown »

In my limited experience, the roots form a dense mat so digging it out in it's entirety should be easier than many plants. I think most people trim the top back so it will need less root anyway. From what I have heard they are kept almost dry overwinter :wink: Where would you overwinter a 8 x 6 foot plant anyway?
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bobbyd44

Re: Brugmansia

Post by bobbyd44 »

at that size is it not worth a try outside all winter???
lisa

Re: Brugmansia

Post by lisa »

I have two Brugs in a garden I look after, they come into a frost free shed during winter and are cut back to about 3 or 4 buds, then if the frost does get to them ther should be buds that will still be able to sprout again in spring. They are also kept dry until spring, been using this method for 3 years now and no problems.
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by Dave Brown »

I took cuttings of my variegated one last year but left it a bit late and the stem had been frosted, so all but one of the cuttings failed. The main plant was left out and killed stone dead in the winter. The cutting was grown on over summer and produced a vigorous shoot from the base so I cut the original shoot as cuttings in August and seem to be doing well. Will post on the propagation forum when they are potted up. I will dig up and store dry in the garage.

My yellow ones in the ground and pots were left out and all died. Fortunately I had one cutting which I have grown on and is in flower now. That is in a tub so will be brought under cover. I removed a side branch so nhave a couple of cuttings as backup.

I had one Charles Grimaldii from Adrian and tucked it up under the porch last winter, it died :roll: .......... but sprouted again in May icon_cheers . It now has three stems but no sign of flowers yet. I will cut one stem down for cuttings. :wink:
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dave2166

Re: Brugmansia

Post by dave2166 »

my brug get overly dry whilst on holiday earlier in the month, when i left it it was saturated, and all the leaves dropped off!!!,

it is still alive and new leaves have started, plus still got one flower

tips on taking cuttings would be ueseful though please
shed

Re: Brugmansia

Post by shed »

I kept 4 young plants of aurea chloranth, grand marnier, maya and sanguinea in growth in my cellar under lights. On balance they did well, although everything suffered when the air got very dry when we had our floorboards sanded. Grand Marnier flowered down there, chloranth grew large enough to fork. It may have been too warm for the sanguinea as it dropped a flower bud. They are all about to flower in the garden now.

Regardless to say it was a bit expensive on the leccy front but that was caused in part by having the lights on too long each day and maintaining too warm a temperature. the chloranth and grand marnier are too tall in their pots to repeat the experience, i'm going to have either find a bright spot in the house (there's not many), decant them and/or cut them back.

Grand Marnier was blown over and broken before it entered the cellar. I trimmed and potted the broken section and thereafter misted it regularly. It rooted easily and thereby qualified as my first bit of propagation. My brother has the cutting and he reports its about to flower.
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by MonkeyDavid »

Dave Brown wrote:In my limited experience, the roots form a dense mat so digging it out in it's entirety should be easier than many plants. I think most people trim the top back so it will need less root anyway. From what I have heard they are kept almost dry overwinter :wink: Where would you overwinter a 8 x 6 foot plant anyway?
I'm not brave enough to leave it outside as with my luck we'll have another winter like last year, as for the size-well, i'd trim it to a more managable size so it would fit in my shed where i've kept it in previous winters, i'm just concerned that cutting some roots will harm it in some way
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Re: Brugmansia

Post by Dave Brown »

If you are removing some of the top it will not be affected by a reduction in rootball. :wink:
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Libby

Re: Brugmansia

Post by Libby »

I moved all mine into the heated greenhouse last winter, having cut them back quite considerably, alot died but I just popped them outside the greenhouse whilst I dealt with other things and low and behold they shooted from the base again!! Its amazing just what they will take!
Mine are still out and flowering and we have had some pretty low temps, but they won't go in till the very last moment, then I will chop them back, pop cuttings in water, washing them with fresh water a couple of times a week, and not water the big chaps!
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